BOSTON, March 25 (Reuters) - U.S. legislators investigating
price hikes in the pharmaceutical industry have asked William
Ackman's hedge fund for information on Valeant Pharmaceuticals (NYSE:VRX)
International Inc VRX.TO , according to a person familiar with
the matter.
Ackman's $12 billion Pershing Square (NYSE:SQ) Capital Management owns
a 9 percent stake in Valeant and is the Canadian drug company's
third largest investor.
On Thursday, Ackman told his investors that Pershing Square
received a request for information a week ago from the U.S.
Senate Special Committee on Aging. Ackman said his fund was
cooperating with the probe, but he did not give details on what
was being sought by lawmakers in his letter to clients.
"The request is directly related to Valeant," the person
familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday.
Valeant has sparked public outrage and been criticized by
U.S. lawmakers for dramatically hiking the price of older drugs.
The Canadian company has disclosed several investigations,
including the one from Congress and probes by the Securities and
Exchange Commission and U.S. Attorney's offices in Massachusetts
and New York.
Pershing Square has lost billion of dollars, on paper, as
Valeant's stock price tumbled some 85 percent in the last year
amid questions about its pricing strategy plus its business and
accounting practices.
Ackman formally joined Valeant's board on Monday.